This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! There was a resounding echo of hockey sticks slamming into pucks an hour before the Maple Leafs hit the ice for practice on Wednesday morning in Etobicoke.

What was going on? Nobody was on the ice. Where was this coming from?

Up the stairs, above the MasterCard Centre ice, the mystery was solved.

Maple Leaf winger Troy Bodie was clad in shorts, with his baseball cap turned backwards like a college preppy.

He was standing by himself with hockey stick in hand, firing pucks at targets in the RapidShot Hockey Training System, a caged platform that spits out pucks quickly and tests shooting accuracy against the four corners of the net.

Article Continued Below

Bodie was hitting the targets most times.

This is a player hardly known for his scoring touch. Bodie has been used mostly as a spare part this season, someone to call up when there has been an injury.

However, Bodie figures that if he can add a scoring element to his physical gifts, his hockey ride may last a long time yet.

The 29-year-old winger has only two goals and three assists this season, but he’s played only 20 games with the big club and was only recalled again on Jan. 18.

Bodie, selected 278th overall by Edmonton in 2003, has been thought of as an enforcer. He has certainly shown that toughness with the Leafs this year, racking up three fighting majors, including two scraps in one game against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Dec. 16.

Now, however, the 6-foot-5, 226-pound winger is impressing coach Randy Carlyle with a strong work ethic and solid checking at both ends of the ice.

Against the Florida Panthers on Thursday night at the Air Canada Centre, Bodie will again be skating on the third line with young centre Peter Holland and Mason Raymond, whom Carlyle has called a “dangerous” player every time he’s out on the ice.

It would be easy to pass off Bodie’s promotion as a consequence of having MLSE president and CEO Tim Leiweke as his father-in-law.

However, Bodie is earning his keep with his size and willingness to compete for the puck. These are traits that Carlyle wishes every one of his players had.

“I think Troy Bodie has probably been the biggest surprise,” the Leaf coach said. “He’s made a contribution on the forecheck, he’s made a contribution on the defensive side of it. He’s a big, strong guy and he separates himself from a lot of people with his strong work ethic.”

Bodie, who was acquired as a free agent last summer after stints in Anaheim and Carolina, was “flattered” to hear about the praise from Carlyle.

“It’s obviously a great compliment,” Bodie said.

His biggest goal, however, is earning the trust of the coach and not making any false steps.

“I’ll err on the side of caution just so he’ll be all right throwing me out there in all situations,” Bodie said. “Once you get that confidence with Randy, I think you can start building out a little bit from there. But No. 1 is having him trust you.”

Bodie is not afraid to admit his limitations as a scorer. What he’s trying to become, however, is reliable.

“Teams win (with) defence first,” he said. “That’s pretty much what reliability is, which is being able to get thrown out there and not get scored against. Once he (Carlyle) realizes you can handle that, it’s more important than skill set.”

He then flashes a smile. “As little as I have.”

Could the RapidShot Hockey Training System yield a boost to that on-ice skill set?

“That’s an amazing machine,” Bodie said. “I can see improvements just from that thing from the start of the year. If I had that when I was a kid, geez, hey look out.”

The Toronto Star and thestar.com, each property of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, One Yonge Street, 4th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5E 1E6. You can unsubscribe at any time. Please contact us or see our privacy policy for more information.

More from the Toronto Star & Partners

LOADING

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies of Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com